No comments about The Winter Book.

2 comments about Gymnastics Journal & Meet Survival Guide.

1. Rik Feeney has created a beautiful book that will keep young gymnasts happily engaged before, during, and after meets. The photo-drawings alone are worth the price of the book. Where was this book when my daughter was competing?



2. If there's one thing young girls LOVE to do, it's write in a journal. Rik Feeney's "Gymnastics Journal & Meet Survival Guide" is informative AND great fun. Along with gymnastics backgrounds on the journal pages, he's also included leotard design pages and meet tracking forms. This would make a terrific gift for any gymnast. Wish we'd had something like this when my daughters were involved - now I can send one to my granddaughter, though!

No comments about More Of The Best Holiday Crafts Ever!.

No comments about England (Festivals of the World).

No comments about Happy Birthday, Grandma Moses: Activities for Special Days Throughout the Year.

No comments about El baul de mis fiestas. Un libro sobre los colores (Coleccion El Baul / Treasure Chest Collection).

1 comments about All Saints, All Souls and Halloween (World of Holidays Series).

1. Catherine Chambers, does a marvelous job of tying all the origins of this superstitious holiday together in an entertaining format. It explains the birth of traditions of All Hallow's Eve, All Saints Day, and All Souls Day in Europe, Latin America and the influences upon them in early North American culture. How a ritual of warding off evil spirits and the harbringers of the dark winter evolved into a festival of ghosts and goblins called Halloween! Find out how legitimate pranksters were appeased by the giving of treats during the holiday that soon became a well loved tradition. Overall, a great read for kids and adults as well!

3 comments about Turkey Surprise.

1. Peggy Archer, Turkey Surprise (Dial Books for Young Readers, 2005)
   
   I've been trying to figure out how to fairly review this book for a couple of weeks now. I always do my best to try and divorce my feelings on the book itself from the feelings of the message contained therein, as long as that message is artfully conveyed. I always thought that I could fairly review books containing even the most offensive messages based on their technical merits. This one has sorely tested that belief. Not just because the underlying message is the kind of thing that drives me up the wall, but because this in one of those rare cases where the book is technically proficient enough to warrant a positive review.
   
   Turkey Surprise is well-written enough that its message doesn't slap the reader in the face with a dead fish (or turkey, as the case may be), but it still gets its point across with no ambiguity whatsoever (Spider Robinson could learn a whole lot from Peggy Archer)-- this is a vegetarian manifesto that attacks Thanksgiving, and it's an important enough point that it's mentioned front and center in the Booklist review that heads up the Amazon page. If you, as a parent, don't have a problem with a traditional Thanksgiving dinner, and see no reason why your child should, avoid this book. Its entire purpose is to telegraph the message "turkeys should not be killed for food."
   
   But, as I said, it gets that message across both with technical proficiency (the writing style is well above average-- stratospheric for a "message book," in fact) and nonverbal content (the pictures are witty and charming).
   
   My original rating of the book was, for all intents and purposes, an excoriation, pure and simple. I have since revised it up to "perfectly average" (perhaps "perfectly balanced" would be a better phrase here) to account for the fact that the only thing about the book that bothers me is its message. It may go up again in the future. ** ½



2. My pre-schooler and I both enjoyed this book. It is a lovely holiday book which I expect to be asked to read long after Thanksgiving. Both the text and the illustrations were artfully rendered. I found the surprise that this pilgrim family chose not to eat turkey at their otherwise traditional Thanksgiving dinner to be unique and entertaining. My daughter, a confirmed meat eater from a confirmed meat eating family, thought the ending was fun. I would highly recommend this book.



3. Two pilgrim brothers go around town and look for a turkey for Thanksgiving dinner in "Turkey Surprise". The little pilgrim brother isn't sure about plucking, stuffing and cooking a turkey. As they are searching, a turkey walks along the road and realizes that the pilgrim brothers want to pluck and stuff him. The turkey tries to find a hiding place but none of the places that he goes (up a tree, a gopher hole, in the water) can effectively hide the turkey. The little pilgrim brother spots the turkey and finds a good hiding place for him and convinces his big brother to bring something else to Thanksgiving dinner.
   
   Some parts of the story are repetitive, making it suitable for beginning readers. The story itself was not interesting enough to sustain my childrens attentions. When little pilgrim asks if a turkey is necessary to have at Thanksgiving, his brother's only explanations were that "Mother and Father want one". A more acceptable analogy would have been to explain the significance of having turkeys at Thanksgiving, perhaps even the origin of when the first turkey was served at Thanksgiving.
   
   Two of the main characters, the turkey and the little pilgrim, appeared ignorant and awkward. The turkey realized that he couldn't swim AFTER he almost drowned. Did the little pilgrim really see the turkey all of those times that he was looking through his spyglass? The evidence suggests that he did know and, in fact, did manage to protect the turkey from becoming a part of the family's Thanksgiving feast.
   
   What could have been a heroic tale of a pilgrim who saved the life of an animal merely ended up as a truly ridiculous turkey tale.

2 comments about Party Secrets: Who to Invite, Must-Dance Music, Most-Loved Munchies & Foolproof Fun! (American Girl Library).

1. This American Girl book is very good. Get this book if you want you're next birthday party to be at your house. This book will tells you who to invite, what games to play, what to eat, how to plan your party, how to be a great hostess, what to dance to, and lots more. A must-have for American Girl book lovers.
   *****



2. Buy this! I am a person who loves parties so i absolutely loved this book, but i think anyone would like this book...it has so many ideas and it even has things that you would ask yourself but didn't even think would be in there like, what to wear, and what food to eat, and if someone stays a really long time and you can't get them to leave!! i loved it, a must have!

1 comments about Shamrocks, Harps, and Shillelaghs: The Story of the St. Patrick's Day Symbols.

1. What a wonderful book for adults and children alike. I found this book to be a terrific help in understanding some of the legends and history of Ireland and St. Patrick's Day. It was also invaluable in explaining these to my younger children, both at home and in Sunday School classes.

   Both the writing and the illustrations work to offer a better understanding of Irish traditions. All in all, not only an educational read, but a pleasant one, too!